The proposal for the Narcissus Film Institute explores the possibilities of the combination of film and architecture through a seamless collaboration whereby notions of inhabitation and expansion of the screen are enriched; manifesting theories of Narcissism in film theory through built form.
Whether metaphysically or literally, Narcissus Film Institute seeks to build a culture of cinematographic creativity, challenge archetypal motion picture houses, raise up and develop an educational exchange between visitor and building, spectator and motion picture.
Connectivity has been focused on to establish greater links and relationships within the wider Bristol context, between residential zones, Bristol city centre, Spike Island and individual social groups. Routes through the site have been co-ordinated to encourage visitors into the building, support activities of surrounding social nodes and embrace vistas and journeys toward a waterside experience
Archetypal cinema has been challenged, and in a response to the ‘non-place’ existent within contemporary cinema as an ‘after film’ space, the Narcissus Film Institute has created ‘Apres Experience’. Providing an expansion of the screen, a prolonging of the climax and an inhabitation of motion picture; the institute provides an explorative journey beyond the screen, encapsulating and manifesting that of a stimulated soul comparible to the story of Narcissus. The institute personifies the characters of Narcissus and Echo and unfolds a narrative through a sequential set of events implementing a spatial grammar determined by film narrative structure and technique, further enhancing the relationship between architecture and the filmic realm.
